


Bernie and the redheads

by lynnaria



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Choose Your Own Adventure, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2020-10-11 09:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20543780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lynnaria/pseuds/lynnaria
Summary: choose your own adventure type story featuring bernadetta and her kind of harem (but not really)





	1. first meeting

**Author's Note:**

> really short introduction to test the waters, i wanted to write completely different stuff w/ all of these but this is way more convinent plus giving the reader a choice is pretty neat. hope u like it.

The first week at the Officers Academy went about how Bernadetta expected it too; She spent the entirety of it in her room, not going to class. She didn't eat for the first 3 days, Dorothea brought a loaf of bread to her as she noticed the girl never left her room to go to the dining hall. Bernadetta read the syllabus thoroughly though, studying the subjects from books so she wouldn't be _completely _clueless. She only did it so she wouldn't get kicked out, being kicked out in a different life may be appealing, but she feared her father's reaction too much to ever dare to try to do that. Her anxiety grew more as the week ended, knowing she would have to actually go to class to take the preliminary test.

Today was Sunday, and she needed to actually leave her room today. Even the thought made her shiver. She had put her chores off until the very end, though. It would be even more embarrassing to go to class tomorrow utterly unprepared. She took a deep breath, pushing her small hands against the wooden doors of her dorm room, and ventured out into the Garreg Mach campus.

* * *

**[Sylvain]**

Her stomach growled loudly. She hurriedly covered it with her hands, looking around to see if any one in range heard. Every one was faced away from her. Good. Luckily she didn't have to walk far, the dining hall only a staircase away from her room. She was horrified to see it full of students, the sound of about 50 different conversations pounding in her eardrums at once. She frowned, sticking close to the walls as she headed for the line for food. 

She had shown up pretty late, so there wasn't many people left in the line. It looked like some kind of soup was on the menu today. She grabbed a tray, quickly snatching a slice of bread to go along with it. She scanned the room for a place to sit. She gritted her teeth, realizing most of the tables were pretty full. She spotted one with about a 3 foot space in between a small group of people and the end of the table. It would have to do. 

A couple of people glanced at her as she sat down, she didn't return their gaze, opting to stare at the floor instead. She ate her soup in silence, trying to tune out the sound of peoples voices by thinking of her favorite tune. Her mother would play her a song on her harmonica, so masterfully, too. She tried to play it herself, only able to produce a loud, grating honk from the instrument. She was able to do a lot of things, but music was something she wasn't even close to adequate at. Maybe she should try again. Start with something simpler, like a drum. She did think things like a lyre seemed pretty fun, though. She shook her head, string instruments would probably be even more of a nightmare. 

She was so deep in thought, she didn't notice someone was behind her until being tapped on the shoulder. Bernadetta jumped, nearly falling out of her seat. She turned around, eyes wide.

There stood a male student, sporting burnt orange hair which was styled into spikes. Bernadetta blinked rapidly, realizing this is the first time in about 23 days she has experienced the physical contact of a human. All she could do was stare, her mouth refusing to even open. 

"Hi!" He said, earning another flinch from Bernadetta. "I noticed you were sitting here alone, and thought I might ask you if I could join you?"

Bernadetta was silent for a few moments, trying to remember how to form words. "Um...I-I actually am finished eating, so I'm gonna leave now! Okay?"

He raised an eyebrow, "It doesn't look like you've eaten a lot, are you sure?" 

"Um, yeah." She looked away. "I have lots of homework so I, uh, I gotta get to the library before it closes." 

"Dang, homework already? Your class must be ahead of mine." He said.

"Y-yeah, my professor is pretty strict." She lied.

"Well, If you're sure, I can't stop you." He began, "By the way, my name is Sylvain. I'm the heir to the Gautier household, I'm sure you've heard of it."

"Yeah, I have." She said immediately, not even sure if she has or not. "Anyway, I gotta go!" She grabbed her tray, barreling past him. She let out a large breath when she got out of earshot. She hopes she never has to talk to that person again.

* * *

**[Leonie]**

Cleaning yourself is a great way to get a new head start, right? That's what Bernadetta decided on, anyway. She made her way to the bath house, clean clothing in hand. A nice, hot shower would do well to calm her nerves. It was around dinner time, most people were eating, so Bernadetta thought it a good time to go there. She would probably turn right around and leave if there were a bunch of girls there. 

She took off her boots by the door, flinching as she stepped into a puddle of water. She tiptoed across the floor, making her way to the showers. She grit her teeth as she heard the sound of running water. She saw two feet behind one of the stalls. Bernadetta looked around before cautiously removing her clothes. She rushed into the stall, covering her chest with her arms. She let out a small yipe when she was hit by the water, it was running colder than she expected. She pouted, wishing she could be in the warm blankets on her bed. 

She scrubbed her scalp, trying to get all the shampoo out of her roots. She managed to clean herself pretty fast, maybe she could grab something from the dining hall quickly before going back to her dorm. She let out a deep sigh of content as she turned off the water. Next to her, the water stopped as well. She heard them step out and close the door behind them. Bernadetta gulped nervously. She was so hungry, she couldn't wait this one out. She went to grab the door handle, stopping as she realized that she hadn't brought a a towel with her. 

She felt like screaming. How could she forget something so essential? She stood there, mouth agape, not able to move. It was getting colder, the warm water not on her anymore. Was this how she died? Trapped in a stall for the rest of her life?

"Hey, you okay in there?" A voice called out.

Bernadetta gulped, "Um, I...I'm..." She couldn't finish her sentence. 

"Oh no, did you forget a towel? I don't see one out here." said the voice again. "Mine's still kinda wet, but you can borrow it if you need to." 

She was so embarrassed. _Stupid, stupid, stupid Bernie...__This girl must think I'm some kind of scatterbrain._

"Hellooo? You still there?" 

She jumped. "Um, yes! I-I would like to borrow it, please." She saw a white flash go over her head, she clamored to catch it. It was damp, and still smelled of soap. Not ideal, but at least it would cover her up. 

She opened the door slowly, holding the towel in place with her free hand. In front of her stood a slim girl with short, orange colored hair. She wore a white undershirt and beige underwear. She was sitting on a bench, putting on her sweatpants, one leg and than the next. She gazed up at Bernadetta, making the other girl flinch. 

"Did you forget your clothes, too? I can't really help you with that." She says, smirking.

"Ah!" She jolts, "No, they're- they're over here." She says, motioning to the other side of the bench. 

She's slipping on her shoes now. "That they are! Welp," She stands up. "If you don't need anything else, I'll be going now. My name's Leonie, just so you know." 

Bernadetta nods, waddling away from the other girl. As the redhead turns around to leave, Bernadetta shouts after her.

"Th-thank you, Leonie!" She says.

Leonie turns around, waving was she exits.

Bernadetta lets out a deep breath of relief. How embarrassing.

* * *

[**Ferdinand]**

Bernadetta curses her mother for not packing supplies for her. No quills, no parchment, no ink, _nothing. _This was what terrified her the most, not only did she have to be in a crowded area, she had to speak to the shop keepers. At the very least, she was well off enough to not need to barter with the seller, but even then, the prices get pretty dang high. 

She's thankful for her small stature, at least. It makes it easier to hide. She bobs and weaves through the crowd, being careful not to bump into anyone. It's pretty busy, since it's a weekend. That means no one will spot her, right?

She fumbles through her coin purse, she puts a few coins on the counter with shaky hands. 

"For just 20 more gold, I can throw in an extra-"

"That's okay I'm good!" She blurts out, grabbing the quills and ink and running off in a hurry. The shop keep can't even thank her for her purchase.

Bernadetta lets out a breath of relief. Alright, all she needed now was some parchment. She squints, looking for a booth that sells it.

Oh no. For the first time since she's enrolled in this school, she sees someone she recognizes. 

The short, wavy, bright orange hair is a distinguishable sign of a certain noble she knows. Well, she knows _of_. She wasn't one to mingle with nobles, after all. The prime minister of the Empire would often throw extravagant balls, ones that her father had forced her to go to a couple of times. She's not sure if she's actually spoken to the son of the prime minister, if she had it was probably only one or two words. Okay, she would just have to try _extra_ hard to lay low and-

He turned towards her. The corners of his mouth turned up in a smile. Oh god, he was coming this way. She turns on her heels, fast-walking in the opposite direction.

She doesn't make it very far, she stops in her tracks as the young man grabs onto her hood. 

"Excuse me, miss!" says the Aegir boy. "I'd like to ask you a couple of questions, if you do not mind."

She gulps, turning to face him. Up close, she can see that he has a very well-kept appearance. His eyebrows are trimmed neatly, and there's not a hair out of place on his head. His uniform is definitely in better shape then hers, too. She doesn't see a single wrinkle on it. 

"You're the daughter of house Varley, are you not?" He said.

"Um, y-yeah, I am." She replies, voice shrill. 

"I'm surprised to see you here, I have yet to see you in class. You _are_ in the Black Eagles, correct?" He tilts his head as he asks.

"Yes, I am. I've just been, uh... Not feeling very well, y'know?" She looks downwards, hoping he buys the lie.

"Oh dear, in the first week of school? Would you like me to take you to the infirmary?" He leans down, trying to catch her gaze.

"Uh-"

"Ah! How rude of me, I have not even introduced myself." He jolts back up, placing a hand on his chest. "I am Ferdinand von Aegir, eldest son and heir to the Aegir family." 

She nods.

"What is your name?" He asks

"Bernadetta." She says quietly.

Ferdinand takes her hand, shaking it rapidly. 

"Bernadetta! What a lovely name, it is a pleasure to meet you." He grins at her.

"Um, yeah." Is all she can muster in response.

"If you're still feeling unwell, allow me to take you to Manuela." 

"No, no! I'm fine." She assures him.

"Are you certain?" He says, taking a step towards her.

She takes a couple steps back. "Yeah, I'm okay." 

"You do not have to be scared, Manuela is a very nice woman. You really should get looked at if you've been ill for a week." He tries to get closer. 

"No-" She tries to go back farther, but bumps into someone standing behind her. She trips, her bag falling out of her hands. The bottle of ink shatters, shooting black pigment all over her. 

Ferdinand stops dead in his tracks and looks down on her, mouth agape.

Bernadetta gets herself off the ground in one swift motion, bolting towards the dormitories. She slams her door shut behind her. She leans against the door, sliding down it. She feels tears in the corner of her eyes start to form, and lets out a frustrated cry.


	2. 2- Homework

Bernadetta let out an audible grown as the Professor gave the class their assignment. It was the one thing she dreaded most; An assignment that required a partner to help. She would give anything not to do it, she'd write a 10 page essay in a night if it meant she didn't need to speak with anyone. Her head fell atop her textbooks, landing with a thud. She sits back up, realizing the Professor probably saw that. She looks toward them nervously, to be met with their same stone cold expression, save for a raised eyebrow. She bites her lip and looks down to the ground, cursing herself.

"Ugh, do we really have to do this assignment?" She jumped, snapping her head around to look behind her, where a voice echoed her exact thoughts. Oh. She forgot Linhardt was sitting back there.

"C'mon! It's not so bad. I'd take this over reading a dumb book. Though, I'm not looking forward to the writing part." Caspar says.

"The writing seems much more enjoyable to me." Linhardt responds, rubbing his eyes feebly.

"What if I do the training for you and I, and you do the writing for me and you?" Caspar suggests.

Dorothea lets out a chuckle, from the bench adjacent to the two. "As if the Professor would believe you can write as good as Linhardt." 

"Hey, they're new here, they might buy it." Caspar shrugs.

"I cannot believe you would take advantage of the Professor for not knowing us well yet." Ferdinand says sternly, from the front row. 

Caspar rolled his eyes. "Ugh, I was hoping that _you_ wouldn't hear us."

Bernadetta frowns. They all seem to know each other well, already. She feels so left out. 

At least it's the weekend now, she thinks as she heads back to her dorm room. She hadn't been assigned any group work for Saturday, so that meant she could stay cooped up, just the way she liked it. She set her bag next to her desk, opening the drawer with her sewing equipment. As she pulls out her thread and needle, she feels the hours slip by as she stitches away into the fabric.

It isn't as peaceful when she wakes up on Sunday morning, with no progress on her school project done yet. She screams into her pillow, scolding herself for waiting until the last minute again. She haphazardly gets out of bed and slips out of her nightgown. With her uniform on, she feels a bit better. She slaps her cheeks urgently. 

"C'mon, Bernie, you can do this." She says to herself.

**Choices**

**-Go to Training Grounds**

**-Go Outside **

**-Wait and See What Happens**

* * *

**Go to Training Grounds**

The most straight-forward approach was obviously to go to the training grounds. There was a constant stream of students flowing in and out of it, so it wouldn't be hard to find a helper there. She wasn't too enthused to step into a building full of people swinging around swords, though. What if someone accidentally cut her head off? Maybe coming here was a mistake.

She enters the stone building, staying as close to the walls as she can. She holds her breath while looking at all the students and knights duking it out with training dummies. Oh, how she'd hate to be one of them. She continues down the path, still sticking to the wall. She's sure had gotten by unnoticed until a booming voice speaks from behind her.

"Bernadetta! What a lovely surprise to see you here!" 

Bernadetta nearly trips as she jumps. She slowly turns her head, already knowing who said that, but wanting to be wrong. 

Behind her is a familiar noble classmate with ginger colored hair. She would be scared no matter what, but the fact that he has a wooden sword in his hand isn't helping her nerves.

"W-w-what do you want?!" She barely musters out, clutching her shirt in panic.

"Oh, I was just coming to do my daily training, but I saw you and thought I might say hello." He has a smile on his face, as he often does. Bernadetta doesn't think she's seen him without it. No points of weakness, huh...

She stared at him, blinking rapidly. She was desperately looking for a way to reply, but found her head to be empty. How do normal people have conversations? She thinks. 

Ferdinand seems to notice her struggling, as he breaks the silence.

"I could always use a training partner, if you do not have one already, that is." He offers.

"I- I'm not here to train!" She responds, voice cracking.

He raises an eyebrow, "If you are not here to train, why do you have a bow on your back?"

Bernadetta's mouth drops. Oh Goddess, she did come here with a bow, didn't she?

"Did you want to train alone? I apologize if I'm interrupting you." He frowns.

She swallows nervously, "Um, I.... I, uh..." She trails off, not communicating anything with her words.

"Do not tell me... You are here to complete your project, aren't you?" His frown deepens, his expression is one of disapproval. 

Bernadetta, unable to contain herself, lets out a sad-sounding groan, confirming his words.

He sighs. "I suppose there is nothing else that can be done. Bernadetta, I will assist you with the assignment." 

"H-Huh?!" She looks back up at him, and finds him walking in front of her. She follows behind.

He leads her to a more open space of the training grounds, one that she's sure she's never seen before, and turns towards her again.

"You have paper on hand, I assume?" He asks. She nods, handing him some from her bag, along with a quill. 

"Now, you can use the targets over there for practice, and I'll be taking notes." He instructs.

The assignment was straight forward enough, have someone observe you while training, and have them give you at least 3 different critiques on your technique.

She was shaky at first, most of her arrows missing the targets entirely, but as she got more comfortable, the easier it got. She kept nervously peeking over her shoulder, looking at Ferdinand writing his notes. She sulks, knowing that he must have found plenty of bad things by watching her. Every time she thought about it, her aim got worse. As her 6th arrow misses the target, she feels tears in her eyes. What if her bad archery gets her sent back home to her parents? They probably wouldn't keep her here if they felt she couldn't defend herself, right? Her father would be so disappointed in her, he'd probably go back to making marriage plans for her and shipping her off to some rich noble. 

She snapped back to reality when she felt a poke on her shoulder. 

"Bernadetta?" There's a bit of concern in his voice.

She turns around hastily, blinking out the tears. "W- What is it?"

"I have been saying your name for the past few minutes and you were not responding. Is everything alright?" Ferdinand asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm-I'm fine. Don't worry." She lied.

The boy raised an eyebrow, but otherwise did not question her. He pulled out the notes he had been taking.

"The first thing I noticed was your posture; you tend to slouch whenever your shooting. You want to make sure your bow is aimed at the enemies heads, not their feet." He said. He grabbed Bernadetta's shoulders and moved her torso backwards, causing her to yipe in response. He moved her elbows upwards, and gently gripped her jaw, pushing it up.

"Try shooting like that." He directs her. "And make sure your arms stay straightened out."

She strung an arrow and shot it. This one finally landed on the target.

"See? A much better shot." Ferdinand nods in approval.

"Oh... Yeah," She says, "it is." 

"I had also noticed..." Oh Goddess, what now? "Bernadetta, do you have stage fright?" 

She felt another spike of anxiety. "Um, what do you mean?" 

"To be frank, your performance today was... abhorrent." Bernadetta winces. "I know you can do better. I've seen you excel on the battlefield. I could tell you were nervous, you kept turning around and looking at me every 15 seconds."

"I..." Bernadetta can't find an end to her sentence.

"I will not judge you for making mistakes. Please do not feel anxious when you're training around me."

"Easy for you to say." Bernadetta murmured.

"Pardon me?" 

Bernadetta jumps. "Um, nothing!" 

"Do you still have more strength in you. The invitation to train with me is still open, you know." Said Ferdinand.

"Um, no." She said, not even having to think about it. "I think this is all I can handle for one day." 

She noticed some disappointment in his eyes. "Alright, do let me know if you change your mind."

Bernadetta nodded, wandering over back to the other side of the training grounds. She let out a sigh of relief as she exited the door. Thank the Goddess she had settled that.

* * *

**Go Outside**

Bernadetta often sees students training in the patch of woods near the monastery. She usually paints there, herself, but it was a place she was somewhat comfortable with. It was pretty quiet, and she liked to look at the plants growing in the area. It did feel good to get some fresh air. With all the trees around, the air was nice and clean.

It takes a good 5 minutes of walking before she sees anyone. She spots a woman with bright orange hair; the one who had helped her in the bath house before. Even though she seems nice enough, Bernadetta is still a bit weary of her. Girls like that, with the assured, cool attitude... She always figured they would hate her. There was such a clash of ideals- they couldn't care less what people thought of them, and all Bernadetta ever cared about was seeming normal to other people. 

She hadn't realized that she'd been staring until Leonie looked over at her, a confused look plastered on her face. 

Her face softened as she recognized her. "Oh, hey! Towel girl!" she waved.

"Am I really gonna be known as towel girl?" Bernadetta asked.

"I mean, I don't know your actual name, so."

"Oh, it's, um, Bernadetta." She replies, mumbling a bit. 

"Bernadetta, huh? Sounds pretty fancy. You a noble?" Leonie asks, tipping her head to one side.

The younger girl nods.

"Really? Dang. Just when I was starting to like you too." Leonie said.

Bernadetta looks up to her, eyes wide. "W-what?!" 

She chuckles. "I'm just messing with ya. You seem less stuck up than a lot of the other wealthy people here, at least."

"Oh..." She responds, returning her gaze to the ground.

"Whatcha doing out here so early for? Here to train?" Leonie asks.

"Um, something like that" She notices that Leonie has a bow with her as well. She's probably a lot better with it than she is. She hopes she won't be too critical on Bernadetta's skills.

She pulls out some parchment from her bag. "I actually, um, have a favor to ask." Bernadetta continues to stare at her feet, too nervous to look the other girl in the eyes.

"Oh, sure, what is it?" Leonie puts her hands on her hips, looking down on her with a smile.

"I have this homework for class, and... And I need someone to, like, critique how I use my bow, and stuff.."

"That sounds easy enough. Gives me a chance to take a break from my training, at least." Leonie plops down on a pile of leaves, taking the paper from Bernadetta's hands. Bernadetta hands her a quill to take write with.

Bernadetta takes a few steps forward, pulling out her bow. She takes a deep breath before stringing an arrow in it. She takes aim at the tree in front of her. The arrow hits it from the side, putting a gash in the bark but not sticking into the tree. Bernadetta grits her teeth and shoots again, this time missing entirely. She grabs another bow, hands shaky now. _C'mon Bernie, get at least one good shot..._ She thinks. She holds her breath as the arrow glides through the air, this time penetrating the tree. She lets out a long sigh of relief. 

"There you go!" Leonie cheers, giving her a little applause.

Bernadetta blushes, shooting again and missing. Her shoulders sink with disappointment.

"Do you want me to give you some pointers?" Leonie asked, now directly behind her.

Bernadetta quickly jumps and turns around. "Oh! Um, okay." 

"You need to widen your stance a bit. Your legs are too close together."

Bernadetta shifts her right leg away. "Like this?"

"Exactly, that's a lot better." Leonie nods.

Bernadetta takes aim, biting her lip.

"You got this one, Bernadetta." Leonie said, trying to encourage her. 

Bernadetta shoots, landing an arrow once again. She smiles and looks back at Leonie.

Leonie smiles back, placing her hand atop Bernadetta's messy hair and giving it a gentle ruffle. "Nice work!"

Bernadetta doesn't find herself minding the affectionate reception from Leonie. She usually wants to curl up and die when people touch her, but something about Leonie makes her feel safe.

"I wrote a few more notes on stuff you can fix, I hope your Professor can read my messy hand writing." She says, squinting at the paper.

The younger girl nods, cheeks pink. "I'm- I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Oh! By the way, I didn't write it down, but I think your bow might be a little bit too big for you." Said Leonie.

"Is it?" Bernadetta never considered the size of her bow before. Did it make that much of a difference?

"Here, take a look at mine." She handed her her bow, which was definitely more worn out, but also smaller in size.

Bernadetta rotated it in her hands, taking it in. "Why does the size matter?" 

"It all depends on your height. If you're shorter, that means you have a smaller wingspan, so you need a bow that's smaller in size." She explained. 

"Ohh, I get it." Bernadetta continued to look at the bow, pausing when she saw something carved into it. "What's this?"

"Ah, that's Jeralt's name, he carved it into my bow. I wanted his autograph, but he didn't wanna bother to get a parchment and quill. So he just did that." 

"Jeralt, like the professor's dad?" She asked, earnestly.

"He's a lot more than just the professor's dad!" She said, a bit of anger seeping through her words. "He's a famous knight who helped saved my village. I owe my life and my skills to him."

Bernadetta felt embarrassed, she didn't mean to offend her. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, I didn't know." 

Thankfully relaxes, her expression shifting back to normal. "It's fine, I can't expect you to know him. You've got your own knights to protect you."

Bernadetta knew she meant no harm with her words, but something about that last sentence made her feel a bit hurt. Was it really like her father said? Nobles and commoners are in different leagues? Maybe Leonie did hate her because of her title, after all. She was probably right before; a girl as strong-willed as her wouldn't want to be friends with her at all. 

* * *

**Wait and See What Happens **

In the end, Bernadetta did what she always ends up doing; avoiding her problem entirely. She can't even remember what she had been spending her time on the whole day. She changed into her uniform, had a panic attack about leaving her room, cried for a bit, and then suddenly it was dark outside. She doesn't believe it when her clock reads 11:30, so she cracks open her door and takes a peek around to confirm.

Surely enough, there's not a single student to be spotted. Bernadetta groans and hits her head against the door. _Stupid Bernie...._

She steps out, quietly latching the door behind her. She has to bite the bullet and do it. She has to tell the Professor that she couldn't complete the project. At least it would be better to tell them now, and not in front of the entire class tomorrow. She worries if they're even awake at this time of night. 

Bernadetta walks down her steps, trying to stay silent. It would be really embarrassing if she woke anyone in the rooms next to hers. She doesn't think shes been out this late, even the lights in the dining hall are all unlit. Thankfully, it was nearly a full moon tonight, so it wasn't too dark outside to see. 

Her plans of going unnoticed are quickly ended when she sees someone walking to the dorms from the fishing pond. 

Bernadetta jumps. She looks left, and then to the right, trying to decide which way to go. She feels like a mouse being hunted like a cat, paralyzed in fear. 

"Hey!" The person calls to her. She clutches her chest in fear, closing her eyes. 

"Helloooo-?" The voice is closer to her, only a couple feet away. 

"I-I'm sorry! I'll go back to my room right away!" She doesn't open her eyes as she turns around, taking a step to her room. 

A hand grasps her shoulder, holding her back. "Hey, I'm not gonna tell on you, alright?"

Bernadetta opens one eye to look at her supposed attacker. It's the man she saw in her first week at the academy, the one who tried to sit next to her at dinner.

"Please don't hurt me..." She says, barely audible. 

"Huh? Why would I wanna hurt you?" He responds.

Bernadetta opens up her other eye, but doesn't respond, instead continuing to cower in fear.

He takes hold of her other shoulder, kneeling down a bit so he's eye level with her. 

"Hey, Hey, It's alright." He says, trying to calm her down.

Bernadetta continues to try to steady her uneven breathing. 

"Why are you out so late? Having a bad dream?" He asks.

She fiddles with hands. "No..." 

"Did you want a midnight snack?"

Bernadetta shakes her head.

"So what exactly did you come out to do?" said Sylvain.

Bernadetta thinks for a moment. She had come out to talk to the professor, but shes doubting her courage do to so more and more. She just shrugs.

"Just out to wander around, huh?"

"Um, yeah, I guess." She replies.

"Ohh, nice." He smiles. "Can I show you around?"

"Uh, okay-" Before Bernadetta could finish her sentence, Sylvain has taken her hand and started dragging her in the opposite direction of her room. She wants to shout out in protest, but like in a nightmare, no sounds will escape her mouth.

He pulls her past the fishing dock, up a set of stairs, right by the horse stables. He kneels down at a corner of a stone wall. Bernadetta follows suit.

She gasps aloud when she sees 3 black kittens nestled together inside a hole in the wall. They're all sleeping soundly.

"They're so cute..." she mutters.

"Here," Sylvain reaches into the hole, pulling out a kitten and handing it to the younger girl.

The kitten does a big yawn as she takes it in her hands. She holds it to her chest and it nestles it's head into her neck.

"Do they have a mother?" She asks, beginning to worry for the cats.

"Oh yeah, I saw her earlier at lunch time. She's probably out hunting right now." He assures her.

Bernadetta coos at the small animal, scratching behind it's ears. 

"By the way, I don't think I've gotten your name yet?" said Sylvain.

"Oh! It's, um, Bernadetta." She replies, looking at the ground once again.

"Bernadetta? That's a cute name. Can I call you Bern for short?" He tries to sink down lower and catch her eye.

Bernadetta turns away entirely. "Y-yeah, it's alright."

"Okay, Bern, here's a question for ya." He begins, "What's the real reason you're out here this late?"

Bernadetta finally looks up at him, anxiety rushing into her veins.

"I know you're not the type to just 'wander around' at night, especially considering I've never seen your bedroom door open once." He said, no trace of doubt in his voice. 

He paused, waiting for the girl to respond. She didn't answer, opting to just stare at him in fear.

"C'mon, you can tell me. I'm not going to run off and tell the teachers. Hell, even if I did, they probably wouldn't believe me, considering my record." He continued to provoke her into speaking.

Bernadetta looked away, now focusing on a wall.

"Trying to steal something...? Running away...? Oh! Maybe you're out to have a midnight meeting with your secret lover?" He speculated.

Bernadetta snapped around to look at him. "Huh?! No! It's not like that!"

"You sure?"

"Yes!!" She sighed deeply. "I came out to tell my professor that I didn't finish the homework I was given." 

"Dang, Bern, I didn't take you for a slacker." He frowned at her.

"I'm not usually like that! It's just... It's a an assignment that needed a partner, so..." She said.

"You should've said so earlier, I can help you out with it." Sylvain offered. 

"Oh! Okay..." She goes to open her bag, freezing when she realizes something is missing.

"I- I didn't bring my bow! I can't do it without my bow!" Bernadetta said, panicked.

"If it's something you have to write, why do you need a bow?" He asked.

"I'm supposed to have someone critique my technique with it. Ugh, this won't work at all." She brought her palms to her face, covering her eyes.

Sylvain just smirked. "Oh, sweet, naive, Bernadetta. You don't have to _actually _do the work, we can just make up some stuff and submit that."

Hmm. She hadn't thought of that.

"But... That's cheating!" She said, dismissing the idea from her head. "What if you say I have a problem with something I'm actually good at?" 

His smile didn't fade. "Oh, that's an easy one. If your professor asks me about it, I can just say that it was my personal opinion. No one can really argue with that." 

Well, she certainly didn't have a lot of options. This was the best solution she probably could have come up with. 

"Okay." She nodded. She handed off some paper and a quill for him to write. It didn't take him long to finish, and though there was numerous ink blots on the paper, his handwriting was surprisingly neat.

She gave it a read. He wrote down pretty vague stuff. 'poor posture', 'could have better speed', things like that. 

"I hope this will work..." She thinks aloud.

"I do it all the time, don't worry about it." Sylvain assures her. "You can thank me when you get an A+ tomorrow."

She nods at him, putting it back in her bag. 

"Now that I helped you, you owe me a favor, too." 

Bernadetta flinches. "W-what?"

"I'm just teasing you, don't mind me."

Something told Bernadetta that he wasn't 'just teasing', however.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOF. FINALLY FINISHED. i wrote a bit more this time! i'll probably release one character at a time from now on, though. the leonie one originally ended up on a happy note but i wrote more and it came out sad, oops. obv this is kinda slow-burny but i'll try to quicken the pace in the next chapters!


End file.
